Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[chikenscratch]

Okay all you bakers out there are you using the Rhodes frozen bread dough? If you are making from scratch how are your houses warm enough to get them to raise or are you doing the warm water in the oven method? Or are you using bread machines? I mean 11 dozen that is a bunch of dough. IDK but mine always suck at raising. I know my grandmother made the best bread and everything but mine always are heavy as a brick or doesn't raise decently if I do them by hand. She used the yeast blocks and not the packets. What is everyone using for yeast? I also have one of those kitchen aid mixers with the bread hook but haven't had much luck there either. Hints and recipes appreciated, for totally homemade. I can handle the Rhodes frozen dough recipes myself

Wish I didn't have to work for a living

I turn the oven on ahead of time and raise on top of the oven. It works well and serves to heat the house a bit too ya know!

Hey 4 out of 6 layed today! Someone must have really like the addition of the heat. WooHoo

 

[Cindlady]

Hi All!

Well, all the birds survived so far. If there were any eggs out there today I didn't find them.

I saved both roll recipes! Now I just need time to make them.

D@mn it's hard to keep the house warm! Had to open the oven to warm th kitchen enough to do dishes.

Guess that's it.... night all!

 

[jvls1942]

good morning,,not out of the deep freeze yet.. January thaw is due on Sunday.. good ,, I have to lift the chicken coop door to open it.. frozen pooh lumps.. the bottom hinge is pulled loose.. I should have gone ahead and poured another layer of concrete over the cracked up floor..that would have raised the floor a few inches and solved a lot of problems I am having now..Next summer, for sure..
Nephew owes me a favor.. pouring concrete will be his payback..

If I am going to keep chickens next winter, there are a lot of things I am going to improve upon this summer.. I better start saving my pennies starting now, for sure..

bbl..........jiminwisc......

 

[momgille]

WOW thanks for the recipes.

They are copied and saved, maybe I will give them a try this weekend but I need to go to store and buy fresh yeast. It is always so dis-heartening to have dried out heavy rolls. I will cross my fingers, I know it is all about touch and feel of the dough.
Didn't mind the drive to work yesterday, as car was parked in the garage, but the drive home cars steering was a little stiff starting out roads feel a lot bumpier too. Have to love these new cars, nothing like the old days and carberators, pump 3 times and hold foot down on the gas pedal, every car had a different combination of pumps and when you flooded it had to go back in house have a cuppa and start over.
DD is taking a drive to Milwaukee and then up to Marquette MI with bunch of her girl friends they have car packed with pillows blankets and water. Used to love road trips at that age.

Have a good day all!

 

[Huntress78]

Just wanted to thank you all for the 'heating' discussions as this is the first time I've ever felt the birds needed some help. Ended up buying one of the oil heaters on Sunday and put it in the main coop (inside the empty broody pen). Then put the second heat lamp in the breeder coop. All the birds are doing great.

I baked yesterday too! Pressed out a can of refrigerator biscuits, slapped on some creamed cheese/sugar, more biscuits, half hour later...cheese Danish! I feel like such a slacker.

 

[jvls1942]

Momgill, before you go buying new yeast, try this :

If you have the powdered kind, take a tablespoon full and put into a 1/2 cup of warm water,, add a teaspoonful of sugar and stir it all together.. set it on the table and wait 10 or 15 minutes.. it should begin to work..

store yeast in the freezer.. it will last for a looooong time..

always start your yeast as described above for each batch of bread..

I don't work with caked yeast, so I cannot tell you what amounts to use in a batch of bread..

I use a level to a heaping tablespoon of the powdered per batch.. most recipes call for two tablespoons,, I don't think that much is necessary if you start it in water first ..

......jiminwisc........

 

[Hens and Roos]

Just wanted to thank you all for the 'heating' discussions as this is the first time I've ever felt the birds needed some help. Ended up buying one of the oil heaters on Sunday and put it in the main coop (inside the empty broody pen). Then put the second heat lamp in the breeder coop. All the birds are doing great.

I baked yesterday too! Pressed out a can of refrigerator biscuits, slapped on some creamed cheese/sugar, more biscuits, half hour later...cheese Danish! I feel like such a slacker.

those sound yummy!

Still cold here today- kids off school again- will have to come up with some ideas to keep them busy

youngest DS know how to push his siblings buttons!

working on getting eggs gathered for the next incubation-probably should set either today or tomorrow.

out to do chores for the morning.

Stay warm!

 

[irishrovr]

 

[chikenscratch]

Good morning everyone! Haven't ventured out yet this morning to check on the hens and rabbits.

Ideas to keep kids occupied:

blanket forts
make play-doo
put 1 cup of boiling water into a couple of different solo cups, add food coloring to each (a different color), and send them outside. If its really cold out, when thrown up in the air, it should freeze instantly.
get pieces from existing games and have older kids create a new game with all of the pieces and teach it to the younger kiddos.
snapchat scavenger hunt for older kids
bring some snow inside the house in a large tub, get out the plastic dinosaurs, shovels, etc and let the kids play in the snow.

 

[mxmarg]

Hilarious Irish! There should probably be a couple kids behind him for some households LOL I can only imagine the kid decibel readings in homes these past days...

Is that "proofing" that you're writing about Jim? I always remember doing that but the roll recipe didn't call for it???? I used to bake Bread every Sunday when i was in my 20s. A happy habit and I learned a lot. Like knitting these days, when I was working on the rolls the other night, I felt everything I learned then coming back to me... pretty cool. And I taught my 6 year old girl how to knead. Thanks for sharing what you've learned about bread making folkses!


Dig it, with the red heat lamp, there is a layer of 10 degree weather in the upper half of the tiny coop even now that the door has been open an hour!!! We have to keep the door open, because if we brought any water into that 4x4 space there would be straw and poop and horse Sweet PDZ in there in no time.

In lieu of the broken oven, I'm scouring the web for awesome bread machine recipes today...